The World Bank has retained Nigeria alongside Afghanistan, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemeh as hotspots of global food security concerns, raising a red flag on the governments’ capacity to weather the storm.
It is not the first time Nigeria would feature on the list but the World Bank’s latest Food Security Update says the countries “remain of highest concern for the June to November 2023 outlook”.
The report obtained from the Bank’s website also elevated Haiti, Sudan and the Sahel region (Burkina Faso and Mali) to the level “of the highest concern” in the stubbornly-high food inflation economy.
Previously, the World Bank identified Borno and Yobe states as areas where food insecurity could deteriorate to a crisis condition in the year.
The two North East states, according to the World Bank, could join western and southern Katsina, northern and southern Sokoto, northern and central Zamfara and some parts of Kaduna among others hitherto placed on the food crisis watch list.
“In many of these countries, organized violence and armed conflict continue to be key drivers of acute food insecurity.